COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Zuul, an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) secure device management platform, today announced that they have raised $300,000 in seed funding and secured their first customer. TEDCO, MasterPeace LaunchPad and local angel investors participated in the seed round, which will provide the fuel that Zuul needs to expand its sales effort and increase support for additional IoT platforms. Zuul bridges the gap between operations concerns and IT security to make deploying and maintaining IoT devices easier and more secure. Their first customer is a global public sector transportation and mobility company. Zuul will enter 2018 with a roadmap to begin software deployment in select U.S. municipalities.
“To date, IoT devices found in smart transportation, building automation and industrial control systems have not been protected with the same type of robust defenses found in the mainstream IT market,” said Zuul Founder and CTO, Edward Stanford. “Zuul leverages the unique differences between general purpose computing devices and IoT devices to enable companies in the smart transportation market to save time, reduce costs, and ensure that their IoT configurations are secured better than traditional IT systems, consistently audited, and maintained. We will use this seed funding to support our expansion into smart buildings and industrial control systems markets.”
Zuul was developed in response to the rapidly expanding Internet of Things and subsequent influx of internet-connected devices being deployed in the smart transportation and smart buildings markets, supporting the advancement of secure smart cities. The process of smoothly integrating these devices into a network and securing them from attacks is complex, expensive, and, when not done properly, leaves networks exposed and vulnerable to attacks. Zuul removes the traditional complexities of managing IoT device deployment, discovery and management by providing defense-in-depth security, hardening devices, securing communications, locking down networks and applications, and integrating IoT device security with the existing enterprise IT security systems.
“Zuul is the first company within the MasterPeace LaunchPad portfolio to raise capital,” said Drew Cohen, President and CEO of MasterPeace. “Since its inception in 2016, LaunchPad has provided Zuul with business training, technology development support, sales support, and now, seed capital. We are very proud of their accomplishments and look forward to continued success in 2018.”
LaunchPad’s Columbia, Md. based accelerator program reinvents the entire company-creation process by enabling entrepreneurial engineers working on government cyber security contracts to leverage their deep technical expertise and build new commercial product businesses.
About Zuul
Zuul protects IoT devices found in smart transportation, smart buildings, and industrial control systems with the same type of robust defenses found in the more mainstream IT market. It takes the complexity out of managing IoT device deployment, discovery, and management. Zuul provides defense-in-depth, hardening of devices, securing of communications, locking down of networks and applications, and integrates IoT device security with the existing enterprise IT security systems. For more information, please visit: https://www.zuuliot.com/.
About MasterPeace LaunchPad
MasterPeace LaunchPad is a technology accelerator designed to bring imaginative and creative solutions to reality. Our innovation factory provides the platform and processes to enable technical ‘services’ engineers to combine creative ideas with technical resources, experienced leaders, to validate technology innovations with real customers launch new commercial product businesses. MasterPeace LaunchPad provides ‘techprenuers’ trapped in the ‘services’ model a collaborative working environment and start-up ecosystem, purpose built to realize their dreams within the burgeoning technology corridor outside of Baltimore. For more information, please visit: https://www.mplaunchpad.com.
